A mechanism used in the Vortex Pyragon Nerf gun is the ratchet mechanism used to in the trigger of the gun to switch between ammunition chambers of the drum. The magazine has four different chambers that each hold ten. The chambers move around an axis and each chamber is spring-loaded. When reloading to access all chambers one pushes a spring-loaded lever ninety degree to lock it into the next gear and the lever springs back to be done again. Equations used in the design of the mechanism is Hooke’s law F=-kx, and PE=.5kx^2

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A mechanism used in the Vortex Pyragon Nerf gun is the ratchet mechanism. This is used in the trigger of the gun to switch between ammunition chambers of the drum. The magazine has four different chambers that each hold ten discs. The chambers move around an axis and each chamber is spring-loaded. When reloading to access all chambers one pushes a spring-loaded lever ninety degrees to lock it into the next gear and the lever springs back to be done again.

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Equations:

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*Hooke’s law F=-kx,

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*PE= 1/2 kx^2

[[File:drummechanism.jpg|300px]]

[[File:drummechanism.jpg|300px]]

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===Design Revisions===

===Design Revisions===

====Battery Powered Motor====

====Battery Powered Motor====

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Add a battery powered motor to put energy into the spring instead of the hand operated cocking mechanism. This will make the gun easier to play with. Younger children and children with complications will be able to play with this nerf gun because it will only require them to pull the trigger to release the disc. There will no longer be a need for the outer cocking mechanism. This will be done inside the gun. The only thing the user will have to do now is turn on the battery by a switch. Once the switch is on, the gun will automatically reload and set the disc every time.

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Add a battery powered motor to put energy into the spring instead of the hand operated cocking mechanism. This will make the gun easier to play with. Younger children and children with complications will be able to play with this nerf gun because it will only require them to pull the trigger to release the disc. There will no longer be a need for the outer cocking mechanism. This will be done inside the gun. The only thing the user will have to do now is turn on the battery by a switch. Once the switch is on, the gun will automatically reload and set the disc every time. However, this will increase the price of the gun.

Purpose

The purpose of Gate 4 was to reassemble our product. Here we show the steps it takes to put back together the Nerf gun. Also we discussed some design revisions that we felt would improve the quality of the Nerf gun. We chose a mechanism that is important to the product and explain more details about how it functions.

Cause for Corrective Action

Getting to gate 4, our group has had some issues. We try to work together to overcome these issues so our grades will not be affected. The members that work well together have decided to get most of the gate done before the due date. We are no longer waiting until the last minute which is improving our grade since we have extra time to look over things or ask questions. We are getting together on a regular basis and we do not leave until we have finished what we wanted to get done or if we know what our responsibilities are to finish. Most of the group members communicate frequently about the projects to see what has been done and what else needs to be done. If a member will not have enough time to finish their part then another member will help them out. For example, one group member was struggling to finish the three design revisions so another came up with an idea and helped get it done on time.

Product Archaeology

Product Reassembly

During the reassembly of our Nerf gun, we found that the assembly was practically the same as the dis-assembly. The only differences in the assembly were the complications with setting components in place to serve as a functioning mechanism and the necessity of compressing springs to place them in certain areas. We also found that the gun was most likely assembled by hand because of the importance of so many small plastic pieces being in place for the gun to function properly.

During reassembly of our product, our group was aware of the complexity of the drum due to the small components because of the trouble we had while dissecting our product.

When dissecting our product, we measured the difficulty of each step by the time it took to take apart the object and the amount of observation needed to complete the step.

The difficulties are arranged as follows:

Easy: The components only needed to be screwed/put into place.

Medium: The components were needed to be screwed/put into place, but were needed to be held at a certain position while being put into place. Two people were needed to hold things in the proper position.

Hard: The components demanded a high amount of observation in order to understand how to take set the components back into place to allow the mechanisms to serve properly.

Tools used during dissection:

Screwdriver - standard Phillips head

Hands

Step

Description

Image

1

For assembly of the gun, start with the empty frame with the orange barrel,manuever the chamber (indicated by the yellow box) into the frame, as is shown in the picture.

Difficulty: Medium

Tools used: Hands

2

Place the four trigger links into the frame (as in picture A) and place the trigger into the frame. Screw the components into place, indicated by the blue boxes (as in picture B), and connect the spring, indicated by the yellow box, to the component.

Difficulty: Medium

Tools used: Screw driver, hands

A)B)

3

Now, take the other frame and slide it into place. Then screw in the eleven screws into the frame, indicated by the blue boxes. Now you can put the butt cap, indicated by the green box, onto the frame finally, take the two parts to the cocking handle and snap them in place and screw in the 5 screws, indicated by the orange boxes.

Difficulty: Easy

Tools used: Screw driver, hands

4

You now have a complete gun.

5

For assembly of the drum, start with the empty orange barrel. Now, place three springs (with orange Nerf caps) and place them in the barrels labelled 2, 3, and 4 (as shown in picture B).

Difficulty: Easy

Tools used: Hands

A)B)

6

Now take the orange cap to the barrel, compress the springs, and screw four screws on the cap, indicated by white boxes, into the barrel.

Difficulty: Easy

Tools used: Screw driver, hands

7

Take the orange bottom drum lid to the barrel with five attached orange pillars and place the barrel onto it. The rod in the middle of the bottom drum lid should guide the barrel onto it.

Difficulty: Easy

Tools used: Hands

8

You can now take the drum and put it in the drum shield. Now you can take black drum lid and place it on the drum. It will snap into the five orange pillars from the bottom drum lid. Screw the lid to the drum by the seven screw holes, indicated by the white boxes. Now you have to take the drum trigger components and set them in place as is shown in the picture and then connect the spring, indicated by the yellow box, to the drum trigger.

Difficulty: Hard

Challenges: The spring on top is small and has to connect a certain way. The correct way if difficult to position and the spring slides off a lot

Tools used: Screw driver, hands

9

Now you can put the bottom drum casing on. Take the bottom drum case, set it in place, and screw it in place by the four screw holes, indicated by the white boxes.

Difficulty: Easy

Tools used: Screw driver

10

By placing the stem through the top drum case and putting another spring with an orange cap in the barrel labelled "1", you can place the top drum case on the drum and screw it in by the six screw holes, indicated by the white boxes and the arrow.

Difficulty:Medium

Tools used: Hands, screw driver

11

The drum is now fully assembled and can be placed into the gun.

Mechanisms

Drum Trigger

A mechanism used in the Vortex Pyragon Nerf gun is the ratchet mechanism. This is used in the trigger of the gun to switch between ammunition chambers of the drum. The magazine has four different chambers that each hold ten discs. The chambers move around an axis and each chamber is spring-loaded. When reloading to access all chambers one pushes a spring-loaded lever ninety degrees to lock it into the next gear and the lever springs back to be done again.
Equations:

Hooke’s law F=-kx,

PE= 1/2 kx^2

Design Revisions

Battery Powered Motor

Add a battery powered motor to put energy into the spring instead of the hand operated cocking mechanism. This will make the gun easier to play with. Younger children and children with complications will be able to play with this nerf gun because it will only require them to pull the trigger to release the disc. There will no longer be a need for the outer cocking mechanism. This will be done inside the gun. The only thing the user will have to do now is turn on the battery by a switch. Once the switch is on, the gun will automatically reload and set the disc every time. However, this will increase the price of the gun.

Alternate Frame

A design revision recommendation for the Vortex Pyragon Nerf gun that is simple and could increase appeal for consumers is to change the outer layout, or design of the Nerf gun. While utilizing the same internal components such as the coil, internal cocking mechanism, chamber, and trigger, changing the outside appearance of the gun would create a new market for this guns internal design, and a different look could open the market to different consumers. This design recommendation would address the concerns of societal and economical factors. By using the internal components over again in a different outer shell would increase the company’s profits. By using designs for components over again, eliminate the cost for designing new ones; this would concern the economic factor. By designing the outer shell smaller or larger would change the environment people use it in, and different designs could reach out to different consumers. This would concern societal factors based on considerations of people and society the gun is used in.

CO2 Powered Gun

To make the Nerf Gun faster and at different velocities the design revision of the coil and the cocking mechanism should be changed. By using a CO2 cartridge, air chambers would improve the Nerf gun. By using these new components to charge the spring would get rid of the need to manually charge spring, and the gun would be automatic; essentially like a paintball gun. This new revision will also provide the ability to give more or less velocity to the projectile disks. Provide the gun to be able to be played with in an indoor or outdoor environment. This would be a societal factor because it pertains to the impact on the people and society where the Nerf gun is used.

Semi-automatic Gun

One of the changes that could be made to the Nerf Vortex Pyragon deals with the trigger mechanism. Instead of a simple bar system to release the spring, a battery powered cam could rotate and manually cock and fire the gun with a single trigger pull. Such a design revision could make the gun fully automatic instead of semi-automatic. This would of course increase the price and affect some environmental or global concerns. The price would go up to accommodate for the new parts, which would include motors and batteries, despite the removal of other parts, such as the pump. While performance may increase the price will increase with it, which may cause a decrease in sales. Serviceability of the gun would also decrease because of the more complex parts integrated into the system.

Clip Ammunition

Another option to enhance cost and serviceability would be to launch the discs from a chain rather than a clip. The complex nature of the clip requires many intricate parts and functions just to fire a full round of discs. If a belt chain with discs loaded onto it was fed through the gun in a semi-automatic fashion the clip would become unnecessary. Doing this would save the company resources and money. The clip requires a lot of plastic pieces that have to be individually molded to form the whole component. If a single belt chain was used instead the manufacturing cost would decrease along with the sales price, and less plastic would be used in the process. This is both a environmental and an economic advantage.